All I Want Is Everything

Whirlwind

That's learning the hard way
Here on the streets
You can't build a dream
Without a plan.

Starship, It's Not Over Til It's Over

Steve finally got serious and he and Ella finished ten songs. Bucky and Nat came over that weekend to hash out their parts and start sharpening everything up, making a decent recording, and on Monday they went to the label with the cassettes.

"It's still rough," Ella said as Steve popped the tape into a player. "We usually write lyrics and melody, then everybody comes up wit their part, we improve the whole thing, then let it sit. Sometimes we end up going off on another direction entirely, like we did with "Only if You Say So." So this really just the launch pad."

"How many songs?" Carter asked.

"Ten so far."

"Good," Carter said crisply. "Keep writing. Your followup album is going to get intense scrutiny. We need the best of the best of your work." Zemo pressed play. They listened to it twice before anyone commented.

"This is an excellent start," Zemo said, satisfied. "I'm sure you're going to be tightening up the harmony. We'll want to hear more of Ella's magic fingers in there to balance out Steve's power chords, and the producer will want to recede Natasha's bass a bit. It's hot but a little distracting. We'll need some more big drum breaks in there too, Bucky. Don't worry, we'll work with you on refining this. We're going to copy the tape, let the producer start thinking about it while you also work on it. And get ready, we've lined up Scott Lang to produce you."

"The Ant Man? Really?" Bucky asked eagerly.

"He can make huge stars from the humblest beginners," Zemo said. "He's excited to work with you."

The next day they returned to the label for a late afternoon event to officially launch their album, on sale that morning, and announce their tour. Mr Pierce was there, introducing the band and Mr Dey, who brought up the tour dates on a projector and all three videos were screened. Most of the attendees seemed to like them, journalists scribbling in their notebooks, and press packets were brought around that included head shots of each member from the shoot during the making of the videos and a band biography. The album was played over speakers and the band and Thor, Dey, Sitwell, and Hammer mingled with the crowd, meeting people who might help their careers. It wasn't too bad, and Thor took them out for dinner afterward to celebrate.

The next day the promotion started. The first video was already in heavy rotation on MTV, and the band members were booked solid on radio stations that day. The morning after that, the band had a brief segment on "Good Morning New York" on channel 7 and had interviews into the afternoon. They had a break in the late afternoon and arrived at Bond International Casino for their first concert date. It wasn't one of the coolest places to play, but the Clash had done 17 legendary shows there in 1981 which provided a certain pedigree. It had been so oversold that there were riots outside. Ella was excited because Blondie had played there also along with Blue Oyster Cult.

"The max audience is 1800," Thor said as they went in. "Ticket sales are at about a thousand, which isn't bad, considering how quickly this was put together and how close it is to Times Square."

"It's so sleazy and dangerous," Nat said. "I'm glad we've got transportation rather than walking."

They set up their instruments and had a brief soundcheck. It was wild inside; water fountains from Liberace's old show were on the dance floor, silver balloons near the ceiling, shaped like people, that inflated and deflated to the music, a musical staircase that lit up when people stepped on it, and the bartenders were all bare-chested guys wearing only tight gold lame shorts. The acoustics weren't great but it was the biggest place they'd played yet. Ella smiled as she plugged her guitar into her amp and stood at her mike.